Friday, August 13, 2010

Padres' new rival

* Guillen still has a pretty quick bat and a very good right-fielder's throwing arm.

* He is 34 but runs like a 40-year-old, which could hurt the Giants on defense, especially in the large right-center outfields at San Francisco, San Diego, Denver and Phoenix.

* Talk about Guillen being a cancer is overstated.

* Guillen will respect Giants manager Bruce Bochy. Guillen did not respect Royals manager Trey Hillman, who'd never played in the majors and was new to the majors as a manager. (Hillman was fired this season.) Bochy is a former major leaguer. Further, as Carlos Hernandez told FanHouse last week, Bochy is well-liked by Latino players on the Giants. Guillen will get a favorable report on Bochy from them.

* Guillen will swing very hard. He is streaky and likely rusty but has all-fields home run power, even in the NL West parks.

* In Kansas City, where the talent was both thin and young, Guillen tried too hard to become a leader and his look-at-me approach did not play well. He now is on a veteran team that doesn't need him to try to lead.

* Here's what a Royals source told me today: "Jose wants to win. He'll get along with everybody who wants to work hard."

* Padres manager Bud Black should know a lot about Guillen and how to pitch to him. Guillen was on the Angels when Black was the team's hitting coach. Guillen's behavior became a chronic headache for Angels manager Mike Scioscia and other field personnel.

1 comment:

I think the comments on Guillen are right now, I wouldn't imagine he'll cause Bochy any issues up there since it is only 6 weeks and all the games are going to count for something. That being said, with Burrell and Guillen in their outfield, that's an ugly defense for a fly ball staff.

What's wrong with Lincecum? Did all those years of high pitch counts first in college and then with the Giants start catching up? I remember him sitting around 95 with his fastball in the past few years, now it's only 91 and guys don't seem bothered any more.